As increasing rates of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) are becoming intertwined within traditional western practice, it has begun to present itself as a social conundrum. It is believed that the first practices of alternative medicine date back to the mid eighteenth century where as ancient Egyptians were using forms of traditional medicine in the early 5th century BCE. Because it has not been practiced as long as traditional western medicine, it has been framed as a social phenomenon. Its growth is curious in that it is beginning to surface in “countries were Western science and scientific method generally are accepted as the major foundations for healthcare, and “evidence-based” practice is the dominant paradigm” (Coulter & Willis 2004). Current US policy and government regulations, like the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, have allowed for CAM to become an integrative part of modernity. This paper examines how the defining of CAM has influenced past and present societal reforms and how the lack of a singular, all encompassing definition was once problematic in CAM’s ability to converge with traditional western medicine. However, due to the growing appeal of CAM’s treatment methods, economic and political factors have paved a path a successful integration into modern medicine.
Unorthodox systems of medicine were first developed in Europe and the United states in the late 1700s but were not completely adopted by doctors until the 1800s. Traditional, or orthodox medicine was established in the West through a process of “regulation, association, institution building and systematized medical education” (Coulter & Willis 2004) and any form of deviance threatened that. During the Revolutionary ...
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...lternative medicine. It is one of the determining factors of a successful healing process and is often inhibited by the limitations of traditional medicine. Many of these movements have included criticism of traditional medicine and a promotion of responsibility of self (Goldstein 2002). By doing so, patients are able to empower themselves through taking control of their treatment instead of playing a passive role in the process.
The societal acceptance and popularity of complementary and alternative medicine contains many facets of reason. The values that CAM embodies and the gaps in traditional medicine it is able to fill both contribute to its high rates of success in the past decades. However, its growing appeal to both the economic and political forces that drive our country has given CAM the leverage it needs to become an intrinsic part of the medical world.
Ross defines and differentiates between the terms healing and curing. She recognizes the fact that healing and curing are very intertwined and it can be hard to distinguish between the two terms. There are differences between the definitions in scholarly and general settings. She references an ethnographic study of healing versus curing conducted by anthropologists Andrew Strathern and Pamela Stewart in 1999 with native groups in New Guinea. The results of the study looked at how energy used by the different types of tribal healers to either cure or heal a patient. Eastern medicine focuses on how energy interacts with the healing process in connection within the mind. Whereas Western medicine is focused on the mind and the body separately. The practice is considered a holistic approach to finding cures. According to Ross (2013), healing is more a therapeutic process targeting the whole body and specific illness including emotional, mental, and social aspects in the treatment. The act of curing is a pragmatic approach that focuses on removing the problem all together. The life experiences of a person playing into how well certain treatments will heal or cure what is ailing them. These aspects can not be defined with textbook definitions. The interaction that the healing process has with energy is a variable in the success rate. Uncontrolled emotions can have a greater impact on the inside the body than a person can realize. The exploration of energy interaction within the body can be used for greater analysis of health care systems. (21-22). Are Western healthcare facilities purposely “curing” patients just so that they return are few years later? Is Western Medicine built upon a negative feedback loop? The terminolo...
pp. 41-84. Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks, Calif. Pigg, Stacy Leigh. (1997) "Found in Most Traditional Societies: Traditional Medical Practitioners between Culture and Development.”
...are still many obstacles to be overcome, but this is an opportunity to help patients have a sense of whole body well-being through the use of alternative medicines such as Native American healing traditions, and hopefully more physicians and patients will be willing to consider it as an acceptable form of treatment for their medical needs.
As one can expect, these values against medical procedures and beliefs about origins of disease and conditions conflict with those of modern Western medicine. This has created conflict and misunderstandings through a lack of communication between medical practitioners and
Medicine during the Revolutionary War was indeed crude compared to modern practices. However, as Lars Hedbor points out, “the passage of time may make some of our contemporary practices look barbaric and primitive in turn” (Hedbor). Therefore, reflection upon the practices of bygone eras needs to be conducted with an open mind and proper perspective. It is important to maintain the understanding that the colonist did not have access to the same knowledge, resources, and technology which are used in modern times. The colonists may made different choices if they had modern knowledge. During the Revolutionary War, the methods used had been in practice for over a millennium and a half.
Joos S.,(2008). The role of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in Germany - a focus group study of GPs. BMC Health Services Research,8,127–140.Retrieved from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2442431/
The philosophy and practice is composed of many different systems of traditional medicine, which are all influenced by prevailing conditions, environment, and geographic area within, where it first evolved into WHO (2005). Although it is a common
Easthope, G., 2005. Alternative Medicines. In: Germov, ed. An Introduction to Health Sociology. Melbourne :Oxford University Press, pp. 332-348.
Contemporary approaches in understanding health, illness and its treatment largely differ from the traditional way of treating people’s health conditions. For instance, before the “Age of Reason” beliefs about vindictive spirits, evil and divine intervention, and practices of sorcery and witchcraft were widely held (Porter 1997 as cited in Williams, 2003). Another example is the practice of Greek medicine; a more naturalistic approach used by the practitioner to tune the body through humoral theories of balance and lifestyle modification. Similarly, during this age, the combination of physical, emotional, and spiritual factors contributed to the development of the “sick man” (Williams, 2003). These medical teachings were authoritative until the eighteenth century. However, towards the nineteenth century, numerous discoveries such as Vesalius’ anatomical atlas and Harvey’s process of blood circulation challenged mainstream medicine, which paved the way for the rise of a newer and more systematic form of medicine (Williams, 2003, p. 11), marking the growth and supremacy of scientific medicine. The evolution of scientific medicine is well documented in several literature (Gabe, Keheller, & Williams, 1994; Longino, 1998; Marcum, 2008; Morris, 2000; Quirke & Gaudilliere, 2008; Williams, 2003). A progressive shift from preference of either licensed or unlicensed healers to the legitimization of the medical profession and medicalisation of natural life experiences had occurred (Gabe, et al., 1994). With this, scientific medicine, commonly known as biomedicine, continued to dominate the discourse of health and illness from the end of the 18th century up to the present (Williams, 2003). Despite this perceived supremacy, scientific medicine...
Medicine as a Form of Social Control This critique will examine the view that medicine is a form of social control. There are many theorists that have different opinions on this view. This critique will discuss each one and their different views. We live in a society where there is a complex division of labour and where enormous varieties of specialist healing roles are recognised.
According to Sandra Augustyn Lawton in Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Teens, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) can be defined as “a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine” (Lawton, 2007, p.3). Although complementary and alternative medicines are often interpreted as the same thing, complementary methods are used in coordination with conventional methods and alternative methods are used in place of conventional methods of medicine (Lawton, 2007, p.3). Another method used is integrative medicine, which uses conventional medicine and CAM together because there is proven scientific evidence to support that the treatment plan is safe and effective (Lawton, 2007, p.3). Complementary and alternative medicines are used throughout the world in many different countries, some more specifically than others.
In the twenty-first century people are accustomed to hospitals with trained doctors, sterile environments, and sensible techniques. However, in medieval times people relied on inexperienced doctors, filthy environments, and techniques inspired by outdated physicians and astrology. Modern medicine is advanced and expanding life spans, while medieval medicine was primitive and often greatly shortened lives. Therefore, modern medicine has not been inspired by medieval medicine, but it has been inspired by those that came after the middle ages. The first great factor of medieval medicine that displays how outrageous and uninspirational it was is the lack of training their doctors possessed.
You live life how it is, you wake up go to work or school. You eat food and drink water. Then once you touch a doorknob to open the door, but you don’t know that the door knob was previously touched by a person who coughed into his hands. You get sick with a minor flu and a fever, so what is next? Do you go to your doctor knowing she can only see you in like two weeks? She is really busy being a professional in medicine and health. Do you go to the hospital, but is your 5 day flu really an emergency? Or do you just go to the closest CVS and buy Tylenol? Well, 30 percent of adults use Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). CAM is a term describing health and wellness therapies. These typical therapies are not part of the
Homeopathy is a type of alternative medicine. The beneficial effects of homeopathic medicines are controversial (1). Homeopathic medicines are based on the premise that like is cured by like. This premise states that a disease can be treated with a substance that causes the same signs and symptoms in a healthy individual.
Herbal products are medicinal agents obtained from the plants. It’s all started 100 years ago by ancient people. Since synthetic medicine are not yet invented by that time, ancient people had invented medicine out of the plants. Through generations the original herbal medicine had been modified due to the new knowledge discovered and technologies invented.